The Great Flood? In this short space the best we can do is outline some of what was discussed in our Bible Insitute on Wednesday evenings. [Geologist theory] “The earth’s axis shifted about 8,000 years ago. The obvious consequence of such an action would have been a dramatic change in atmospheric conditions. The polar ice caps, suddenly transposed to the temperate belt, would melt, and the level of the oceans would rise accordingly. Volcanoes would erupt, suddenly filling the skies with ash. This protective canopy of vapor would react like a greenhouse, and the resultant condensation would cause torrential downpours. The entire earth would be exposed to the full fury of waters above and below the earth”…just as recorded in the Bible.

Coincidently or conveniently for the sake of secular science/geologists/archeologists, a large *meteorite hit the oceans at the same time as the polar caps melted creating a big splash (theory only). This splash propelled indigenious species from one continent to foriegn lands. This explains, in minds of secular scientists that is, how their skeletal remains got there. 

Talk about a great deal of faith, it takes less faith to simply believe that God’s hand was and remains in all activites on earth today. The Bible story is not a story. It is actuality history.

1. Nakhichevan/Naxuana at the base of Mt Ararat claims to be “where Noah settled” after the flood. They also claim his grave site is located in this city. Noah lived 350 years AFTER the flood, long enough to have established a city in this location.

2. The flood theory, according to some secular scientist, is a probability, but not due to a supernatural intervention. It is due to a rapid one day melting of the polar caps and a large *meteroite splashing into the ocean. [**JIV: the polar caps didn’t exist until after the flood when the world tilted on its axis. Up until then, the globe was tropical explaining why tropical plants and sketetal remains can be found in the thick ice caps; e.g. the Ark  landed on ground, not snow swept mountain ice ridges Genesis 8:13]

*a. Meteorite Splash [secular scientist theory]
i. It was the splash that caused the appearance of a flood when the polar caps suddenly melted. 
ii. The splash bounced land creatures and sea mammals to parts of the earth they are not considered today to be indigenious. This supposedly explains why geologists find their bones and fossils there today.
iii This means the ice caps melted and the meteorite were contemporaneous events (Wow! Scientific faith?)

3. The difference between historic and prehistoric is BCE [Before Current Era], and AD [Ammo Domini; Latin] 

4. Adam lived 930 years and Methuselah lived 969 years. They overlapped by 243 years covering the prehistoric/antedeluvian period from creation of man to the Great Flood. Creation to the Flood is *1656 years
a. Methuselah [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methuselah, Hebrew Book of Jubalees and Book of Enoch ] died the year of the Great Flood ending the prehistoric/predeluge years.

*930 [Adam]+ 969 [Methuselah] – 243 = 1656 [Coincidence? Perhaps]

5. Berossus, a Babylonian historian of 300 B.C.E., basing his research on the Temple of Murduk stone tablets, named ***ten generations of kings/rulers living between creation and the Flood. Fact! He is a secular historian recording that the flood happened similar to as later stated in the Old Testament records written by Moses.

***The Bible records 10 generations between the creation of Adam and the birth of Noah (another coincidence? How many coincidences does it take to make an actuality?)

a. He records the last ruler before the flood was Utnapishtim (Babylon’s name for Noah) 
b. Utnapishtim, Babylonian name for Noah, escaped the Great Flood in a boat. 
c. Beside the Babylonians, the Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Chinese, Fiji Islanders, Aboriginal American Indians, Brazilians, Peruvians, and many other cultures have  a similar legend, or story of a Great Flood. 

6. The *Gilgamesh Epic/Record: Noah’s own words of the flood parallel the records of Genesis. 
a. Gilgamesh was the 5th king in the first dynasty following the flood.

8. *Secular records state that King Gilgamesh visited Utnapishtim’s post-flood home; 
a. * Gilgamesh Seal, stone tablet record of the flood, now on display at the University Museum of Pennsylvania.
b. Why the visit? He loved reading the pre-deluge [flood] stone tablets [records] and …
c. …Noah lived for 350 years after the flood. He may have still been living when King Gilgamish visited.

AHA MOMENT

Additional Aha Moment: 

Did Jacob and twin brother Esau have any other siblings? Genesis 27:29 is the only place in scripture where this curiosity question can be answered: “…the sons of your mother.”